alright I figured before I gave up id ask in here, in case i missed something obvious
I bought a mastach aldl cable awhile back and just started fooling with it, aldl_test fails, no reading from car.. the test they mention using hyperterminal on software flow control works, but thats it

i got fed up and opened it up and broke out the multimeter and made sure all the connections were good, thats fine, it all looks fine nothings in backwards

tested on 2 machines, running win98, both on 9pin serial ports, using 2 different serial cables.. same crap
the laptop ive been trying to use it on is set on bare minimum configuration.. nothing is conflicting with anything

im 99.99999% sure windows is just f*cking with me as usual and not in the mood for that crap, but if anyone has any other suggestions I can try, or perhaps a way of testing the converter that doesnt involve the computer, id be happy to hear it

 

pff. i knew it, score another point for windows..
bought a usb to serial converter today so i could test it out one last time on this laptop instead
figured id run into more problems this way, worked first time i tried it
trying to debug problems on windows machines, *** sooo utterly ****ing pointless, just keep jumping around till you find one that works, and dont try to figure out why it worked and the others didnt, there is no legit reason

 

Hey i'm haveing the same problems with my mastech cable. My laptop is running 95 and has no USB ports though. Have any advice?

 

you guys know you have to change some of the settings on the Serail port for it to read right?

i don't actualy know the settings, but my buddy told me that you have to when he datalogged my car.

 

Ya i set all the settings right, i ended up making a two transistor one for >$9 and it worked on the first try.

 

i spent 26$ making mine. but it is fancy. it's all heat shrinked and stuff....

anyway where did you find the settings for the serial port? i can't seem to locate them anywhere.

 

if you give me your email address i will email you the setup directins.